A MORECAMBE man took the law into his own hands, with the aim of teaching a lesson to someone he suspected of theft.

The victim, Darren Robson, was attacked on the street, but could not remember much, apart from being hit and waking up in hospital.

He was also stripped humiliatingly, though Andrew McGuinness denied being responsible for that.

McGuinness, 27, of Westminster Road, Morecambe, was jailed for 12 months by a Preston Crown Court judge.

He had pleaded guilty to the wounding, which occurred on December 5 last year.

Mr Jacob Dyer, prosecuting, said Mr Robson had gone out drinking that night with a friend.

They ended up at the Grosvenor Hotel where an argument took place with the defendant's mother.

Mr Robson was being challenged about the theft of a friend's bicycle from her house.

The man and his friend left.

Shortly afterwards, McGuinness and a couple of others pulled up nearby in a vehicle.

They chased Mr Robson and his friend.

The prosecution believed that a second person was involved in the attack that followed.

Mr Robson had tried to hide in a garden and also attempted to alert a householder before he was dragged away by McGuinness who punched him to the face.

He felt a blow to the back of the head and his next recollection was coming round in hospital the following day.

A woman walking her dog had heard a man say 'please don't hurt me'.

He was repeatedly punched to the body as two men attacked him.

One of them told the woman the other man was a burglar.

Mr Robson was also said to have been kicked to the body and stripped for humiliation.

The prosecution could not say who stripped him.

He sustained swelling to the eyes and a five-centimetre laceration to the back of the head.

The defendant accepted to police having hit the victim once, but denied stripping him or carrying out a prolonged assault.

Mr Patrick Thompson, defending, said McGuinness knew that his behaviour had been unacceptable.

It must have been a frightening, humiliating and painful experience for the victim.

"This is a classic case of someone taking the law into their own hands.

He has had four months in prison to think about it.

"He realises this behaviour was not the right way of going about things."

Mr Thompson claimed Mr Robson had extensive convictions including offences of violence and of having an offensive weapon.

"The idea had been to humiliate him and stop anything like this happening again.

The offence was committed out of a sense of injustice and a misguided sense of family loyalty."